Neil McAuliffe recalls his fathers stories of his times at the Elwood Sailing Club.

MAURICE HENRY McAULIFFE
born Melbourne 02-11-1917
died Brisbane   10-10-2004

After my father’s funeral, I came across some photos that I thought were of historical importance to your club.  

Dad was a member of the Elwood Sailing club for many years while he was living in and around the bayside at addresses such as Spray St, Foam St, and New St; in Elwood and Elsternwick.  It was the days of  the Seahorse Class, and we believe he sailed somewhere circa 1945 to 1955, although I am unsure of the exact dates.  My mother even remembers him sailing off on a bay cruise (to her slight annoyance I think), when they got engaged to be married in 1946.

He told me many funny stories of those times and I shall recount two of them to you, as told by my father:

It seems  that back in the 1940’s, protocol and etiquette were of great importance to the club, and the young men were always being encouraged to behave and dress better, especially at inter-club competitions.  My father and some of the other young men, then only in their twenties, were encouraged by the Commodore to ‘do better’ with their dress, at an up and coming event.  He had told them,  ‘Please at least have the decency to wear a hat at the after-race gathering’.  The boys assured him they all would do
their best, but imagine his chagrin when they all turned up sporting a bizarre range of headdresses including a deer-stalker, a top-hat, a cowboy hat, a jungle pith-hat etc.

On another occasion the Elwood club Commodore gave specific instructions on what to do at a ‘sail past’, that was to culminate another up-coming event, to be held at a neighbouring club (possibly the prestigious St.Kilda Club). It appears that some important people were to be present on that club’s balcony, including the wives and Commodores of several visiting clubs, and perhaps even the local mayor.  The host Commodore was to take the salute, and many crews from different clubs were to sail past as he did so.
Fearing the worst, the Elwood Commodore told his young charges that he would be in their lead boat, to follow him, and “for goodness sake, just do what I do”.   As the Elwood Commodore’s vessel came by the host club, with dignitaries and wives looking down at the splendid line of Seahorse yachts sailing by in single procession, a strong side-wind caught his crew off-guard, and blew his yacht over.  The Commodore and his crew righted their yacht, and continued on, stoically, but greatly embarrassed.  One by one the mischievous young Elwood yachtsman, including my father, sailed up, and did as their Commodore had done.  The host club’s Commodore, the dignitaries, and guests, looked on in bemusement as the Elwood E2, E3, E4 and subsequent crews, all sailed up to the host club, and one after the other, tipped over their yachts, righted them again, and sailed on, just as their Commodore had asked them to do.
As Dad got older he stopped sailing, and joined the Elwood Bowling club which was somewhere behind the ESC, as it perhaps still is.  Dad bowled on until well into his late seventies.  He was a club champion and life member of Trentham Bowling Club in the Central Highlands, for 18 years, where he also served as Club Treasurer and Secretary for much of that time.  As you may know, each set of woods owned by a bowler has a distinctive emblem in the centre of each bowl, to identify that set from from those of the opposition.  In those days, most people wanting a new set of bowls would look through the manufacturer’s catalogue to choose an emblem that took their fancy, prior to the bowls being made.  In his early days at Elwood Bowling Club, Dad wanted something different, so he comissioned a personal set of bowls to be made with the Elwood Sailing Club’s seahorse emblem to be in the centre of each wood.  The manufacturer had no such die to press that exact image into the bowl, so Dad provided them with the Elwood design, and a new die was made at extra cost especially for the purpose. He always bowled with that special set of “Seahorse” bowls that no-one else had.    Many years later while bowling while on holiday in QLD, he came across another man who was bowling with that exact Elwood Seahorse design on his own set of bowls.  Dad asked him where he got them.  He was told that they were made in Victoria, and that he saw the design in the
manufacturer’s catalogue and thought it looked good.  So the ESC Seahorse still rolls-on, not only on flags at sea, but also on land (compliments of my father, Maurice McAuliffe) perhaps on a remote bowling green somewhere in Australia today.

I have attached a photo of my father in his younger days, and two snapshots of some Seahorse yachts (circa late 1940’s) taken outside the ESC. I hope they are of interest to you.  I think the Seahorse photos would make a good addition to the existing ones on the Club History page of your website .

Yours Sincerely,
Neil McAuliffe